


Whenever You Feel a Little Inside Out

by why_didnt_i_get_any_soup



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Jughead Jones, Bisexual Betty Cooper, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Veronica Lodge, Camping, Christmas, Coming Out, Creepy, F/F, F/M, Food, Future Fic, Horror, Monsters, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Riverdale is a Spooky Place, Scooby Doo References, Supernatural Elements, Thornhill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 14:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12134490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_didnt_i_get_any_soup/pseuds/why_didnt_i_get_any_soup
Summary: Betty and Veronica are back in Riverdale after graduating college. The gang is back together but things are a little strange around town.Formerly titled “Wishing the Days Away”





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endgame Betty/Veronica/Archie

 

Betty thought that she wouldn't be back in Riverdale for another 10 years after she moved to New York City with Veronica for college at NYU. Yet, there she was, in the Cooper house again, at 22 with Polly’s redheaded 6-year old twins running around like eddies. She thought it might be weird to be there, staying in her old room, but the weirdest part was all the space—in the house, in the town, everywhere. She had grown so accustomed to New York's confinements and looming skyline that Riverdale left her feeling exposed like she was being watched from behind the barren trees as they trembled in the winter wind. It was unnerving in a way she never remembered it being before, even when the whole town knew a murderer was roaming free among them.

But she owed it to Jughead, they all did, to be there when his dad finally got out of prison since she really hadn't seen him in the four years it took for her and Veronica to get their bachelor’s degrees. Sure, they'd stayed in contact but they’d agreed that it was best if they were friends and not lovers before she left. Not that she had really dated anyone in college, anyway, as much as Veronica  _ insisted _ she try.

Veronica had set her up on so many dates, with boys and girls, and nothing stuck. She didn't want to say she was hung up on someone else—especially because she wasn't even sure who—but she sure did act like she was. Maybe this visit would help her figure that out.

 

…

 

Veronica chose to stay with Betty instead of taking the spare bedroom in the Andrews' house. It just seemed weird to her to be under the same roof as Archie since they had dated but it ended a little rough before she left for college. Betty was honestly grateful to have Veronica on the trundle next to her in the dark of her childhood room since it was just like in New York where they had shared a one-bedroom apartment for four years. 

This trip was probably going to be crucial in deciding what to do next since the lease on the apartment was almost up and they’d both graduated. A huge part of Betty wanted to stay shacked up with Veronica in NYC forever, but another part of her really wanted the comfort and relative normalcy of the sleepy hamlet that was Riverdale.

Since the flight they came in on had been a red eye, the first night they were back they tucked into the already-made beds (thanks, Alice!) and passed out, to get ready for the new day ahead.

 

They could have stayed in New York for a little bit longer before coming back for the holidays but Jughead’s dad was due to be released from prison and they all wanted to be there for him. Jug had settled into his foster family pretty well and even found a job so he could get a car (van) and take some night classes at the community college when he wasn't working. It wasn't exactly ideal, but it got the job done. So, bright and early, in the glaring morning light, the whole gang piled into Jug’s jalopy and accompanied him to the prison 30 minutes outside of town, Archie driving so Jug could just sit back and try to relax a little.

FP, for his part, never snitched on the Serpents, but it became pretty apparent the more the case was investigated that truly the Serpents hadn't been peddling the Blossom drugs. They might have been a gang of petty criminals but they were also mostly good people just trying to support their families and community. When the sheriff and his guys started pulling on all the little strings of loose ends, it turned out that a hefty portion of the Riverdale football team was behind the drugs spreading around town. Unfortunately, depending on who you ask because they were football players and young “upstanding citizens of Riverdale,” they received incredibly reduced sentences—community service hours. But, fortunately, again depending on who you ask, it meant that FP got a reduced sentence, too. By the time he was sentenced, he'd been in jail for a year and he was sentenced to a minimum of eight years, which with good behavior got him out in six (counting the year in jail). So, now here they all were—Betty, Veronica, Archie, Jughead, and Kevin—crammed into Jughead’s shitty little van that probably barely had enough space for FP when they finally did get him. But they were there for Jug, even if it took them a little while to get back into the swing of old times since none of them had had their morning coffee.

This was really the first time that Betty had seen Jughead in four years and she was honestly grateful to be jammed all the way in the back with Veronica and not up front with him and Archie. Occasionally, conversation spread to the whole car but mostly it stayed in the two little clusters of Jughead and Archie in the front and Betty, Veronica, and Kevin in the back.

Kevin had gotten his associate’s at the community college but he wound up going to SUNY Plattsburgh for his bachelor’s, much closer to home. He wasn’t quite finished—it had taken him a few semesters to decide what he wanted to major in and then a few more to decide on something else—but he came home for breaks because it was so much closer to Riverdale than NYU was. So, mostly he talked about what that was like. Archie was pretty quiet since he had wound up taking over the business when Fred had to spend almost a year recovering from his gunshot—mentally and physically—and then it was easy for Archie to just keep working. It seemed to be a bit of a sore spot. It was going to be an interesting vacation, Betty could tell.


	2. Chapter 2

FP looked so much different than when they were still in high school.  For one thing, he’d grown out his full beard, but also he’d clearly spent a lot of his time in the joint bulking up. Betty didn’t even recognize him when Jughead finally came out with his dad in tow. But when he climbed into the car, taking the seat next to Kevin in the middle, his voice was exactly the same. He greeted everyone very politely and started asking everyone questions about what they’d been doing, and apologizing for missing their graduation (from high school). It made Betty sad but she was really glad he had only served six years and not the twenty he’d been threatened with. Everyone did their best to be polite and courteous to FP, especially Archie, so it wasn’t such an awkward ride back into town to the halfway house that FP had gotten set up for him to live while he transitioned back into life on the outside.

They dropped him off without much hassle and then Archie took them back to his house for dinner. Fred was out and Jughead decided he was going to cook everyone an appreciation meal. He’d been studying culinary arts since he realized that food was his true passion and what he wanted to focus on most in life, especially after he and Betty broke up and he felt the need to reevaluate. Betty had to admit, for someone who ate as much as Jug, he was still pretty slim. It was a bit of a mystery how that happened but Betty envied it; she was always counting calories—a little neurotically if she was being honest—and exercising pretty rigorously. New York had kept her a bit hungry and definitely lean with budgeting and all of the walking.

Most everyone was happy to let Jughead cook by himself, but Betty offered her services anyway. Jughead had learned relatively early on that she was an excellent cook—one thing she was happy to have inherited from her mother since a good amount of her personality came from her father—so he readily accepted the help.

“I’m always happy to have you in the kitchen.” Jughead admitted, before telling her what he had planned to make.

Betty laughed a little, knowing that even with five people, Jughead would still wind up being the one to eat most of the food so he was preparing a lot more than would be expected for their small party of people. She started in on the macaroni casserole while he started a whole chicken.

“How are you doing?” Betty asked after a while and most things were baking or cooking and didn’t require as much attention.

“I’m doing really good,” Jughead admitted, and he seemed genuine.

That was something she was glad she was able to maintain with him, even after they split up. Their relationship was still really close because they communicated. It turned out he really cared about her, but sex and romance...just weren’t for him. The break up was incredibly amicable and they were able to go on being friends.

“I really love school, but I also kind of hate how long it’s taking me. I don’t want to be taking only a few classes a semester, or I'll be there for ten years!”

Betty felt a stab of guilt then, that she and Veronica had done their degrees in the allotted four years and were graduated. But she reminded herself that that’s not what he meant; he wasn’t _mad_ at her. He just wanted to be able to get to the career part of his life. She understood that; she was similarly eager to start an official job.

“I totally understand.” She admitted, stirring the mashed potatoes. “What about your dad?”

Jug was silent for a little while, bending down into the oven to base the chicken, but he finally sighed and faced her to respond.

“I’ve been visiting him a lot over the last few years, which is really more than I ever saw him before," he laughed wryly, "I’m glad he’s out, though.”

“You think he’s gonna stay straight?”

Jughead laughed at that.

"You know what I mean." Betty laughed and slapped his arm playfully.

He nodded and shrugged. “Who knows? Especially for someone trying to make money with the record he’s got. Fred says he’ll give him his job back, but there’s always the Serpents...”

What went unsaid was how hard it was to disentangle yourself from organizations like the Serpents, and prison records don’t help with job prospects that were already pretty dismal in small towns like Riverdale. At least with the restructuring and bankruptcy of the Blossoms’ company, it was a little easier for people to get jobs and the money in town wasn’t so concentrated to one family.

That thought made Betty ask. “A little morbid but have you been to Thornhill, recently?”

Jug smiled a little too wide at that, mischief shining in his eyes. “Oh yeah, I’ve been by a few times. It can be kind of _inspiring_.”

“Oh my god.” Betty rolled her eyes, thinking that was the end of the conversation.

“We should go.” Jug suggested offhandedly.

“What do you mean?”

“Like all five of us.” He gestured toward the living room. “We could make a little trip of it, get a big tent, bringing some s’mores ingredients and tell ghost stories around a campfire. What d’ya say?”

“I say that sounds like a good way to wind up getting eaten by the Blair Witch.” Veronica cut in as she entered the room, clearly looking for some food to pick off while she waited.

Jughead gave her a withering look.

“I’m just in here to check how dinner is coming along,” she admitted.

“We’re getting pretty close,” Betty answered, almost done with mashing the potatoes. “Just waiting on the chicken, now.”

Veronica sniffed dramatically. “It smells really amazing.” She said, looking directly at Betty.

“It should be pretty good. Jug’s been taking classes.” Betty tried to redirect Veronica’s compliment, but Veronica mostly ignored it.

“So, when are we going on this camping trip then?”

At that moment, Archie and Kevin wandered into the kitchen, too. Clearly, everyone’s stomachs and noses were talking to them.

“Camping?” Archie perked up.

“Near Thornhill.” Jughead supplied.

“I’ve got all the stuff in the shed if we need it.” Archie offered up.

“Maybe we go tonight?” Jug asked, looking around at everyone.

Surprisingly, no one disagreed.


	3. Chapter 3

Flashlights and camping gear borrowed from everyone’s respective houses in hand, they crept through the dark woods in the snow.

“Are we really camping out in the snow?” Veronica asked, showing her cards that she was worried and sounding ever the metropolitan princess she was.

“Don’t worry,” Archie assured her, looking like he wanted to put an arm around her shoulder, but he couldn’t since he was carrying the cooler and the tent bag. “I’ve done it before. We just have to clear out the area we’re going to put the tent.”

“I just...feel like somebody should be saying ‘zoinks’ or something.” She pointed directed at Jughead who had brought his dog, Hotdog.

“Jinkies,” Jughead said, rolling his eyes.

"Jug, don't even play. You're Shaggy. I'm Daphne." Veronica said.

"Does that make Archie Fred?" Betty laughed.

"I guess you're Velma, then," Kevin said to Betty. "But who does that make me?"

"Scrappy Doo?" Jughead said.

"First of all," Kevin sounded seriously mad.

"I'm just kidding!" Jug tried to backpedal. 

“I just know I’m going to sleep horribly.” Kevin switched topics. "I need my own bed."

Betty had to agree, though she highly doubted the point of this little excursion was to sleep. Though, Veronica was kind of right about them acting like a bunch of teenagers meddling in something they shouldn’t be, crunching on the snow as they navigated through the mostly barren trees.

“We should be coming up to a clearing soon that isn’t too far from Thornhill. We’ll clear that spot out, set up the tent, then go.” Jughead said.

"Go where?" Archie asked.

"To see Thornhill, of course."

"In the dark?" Veronica asked, scandalized.

"The moonlight lights it up beautifully, trust me."

They all had to trust him since the rest of them didn’t have the same kind of knowledge about the area that he did. They walked for a little while more, sticking close together in the darkness.

“Remind me why this is a good idea?” Veronica whispered to Betty.

“I don’t know if it’s the best idea,” she admitted, “but we’re doing it for Jughead. Might be interesting to see Thornhill at night.”

“It just sounds like more walking and my feet already hurt.”

“That’s because you wore the wrong shoes,” Kevin said, butting into their conversation.

Usually, Veronica loved Kevin but when she was wrong and he was right, he got on her nerves. She huffed at him and moved ahead to walk next to Archie. Betty laughed but was fine with getting a little time to talk to Kevin.

“This is it,” Jughead announced when they got to an illuminated clearing.

The lack of trees allowed the moonlight to brighten the whole space, almost to the point where they didn’t need their flashlights. Jughead hadn't been kidding. Out of one of the bags Jughead was carrying, he got a foldable shovel out.

“Me and Archie are gonna take care of the tent situation. You guys," he gestured to Kevin and the girls, "go find some wood for the fire. You were a Scout, right?”

Kevin nodded.

“So, you know how to build a fire?”

Kevin nodded again.

“Okay, good. Also maybe look for some logs that we can sit on.” Jughead said and then turned back to the task of setting up the tent.

Kevin explained that fires needed a lot of small sticks and kindling at the start to put in the middle and then they could add larger branches on the outside. They cleared a little area for them to stack the wood, a place Hotdog made himself at home, trying to find branches that weren’t too wet for the fire to start.

After about twenty minutes, the tent was set up and a good amount of sticks had been stacked in their pile. They made a little area for the fire pit and set two large logs around it that seemed sturdy enough to sit on.

“Ready to check out Thornhill?” Jughead asked after surveying all their work.

“This better be worth it.” Veronica said through her teeth, though it was loud enough for Jughead to hear.

He gave her a withering look but didn’t comment.

They all grabbed their flashlights and followed Jughead, crunching through the snow again with Hotdog leading the way. In the dark and cold, Betty was surprised when Veronica took her hand. Surprised, but not unhappy. It was comfortable and _comforting_. She hadn’t realized it until then, but she was nervous to go anywhere near that house, that land. She didn’t really like admitting it, but she was a superstitious person and, to her, that Blossom land was cursed. After Cheryl had burned the house down, Penelope followed Clifford’s example and swallowed a stomach full of pills.

“We should be coming up on the cemetery any minute now,” Jughead announced, sweeping his flashlight around as if he would get a better idea of where they were that way. Maybe he did.

“What happened to Cheryl?” Betty asked the question that had been on her mind when thinking of the Blossoms.

She saw Archie’s shoulders tense in the dimness of her flashlight. He and Cheryl had briefly dated after he and Veronica broke up. But that relationship had lasted less time than his and Veronica’s relationship had.

“She’s a waitress at Pop’s, actually.” Archie supplied. “Ironic, considering how much shit she gave Veronica’s mom back in high school.”

Veronica snorted at that. Betty knew she didn’t hate Cheryl, especially considering Cheryl had suffered a large amount abuse from her family and they had grown somewhat close in high school before the house burned. But she had been a bit of a mystery since she was sent away after that. No one really knew where she lived or what happened to her after that. It would have been so easy for her to stay away from Riverdale permanently. But, like Betty was finding out, the town had a magnetism about it, a way of sucking people back in.

Rumors had spread about Cheryl, ranging from the mundane to the outlandish. None were likely the truth. The tamest was that she had simply relocated to an aunt’s house in Michigan and the wildest was that she was put in juvenile detention until she could be transferred to an adult prison when she turned 18, where she eventually became the shaved-headed leader of a gang. The truth was likely somewhere in the middle.

“She won’t say what happened.” Kevin chimes in. “I think, really, she was in a psychiatric ward. She’s very quiet these days.”

That hit Betty right in the gut. She had been teetering on the edge of her own mental illness during this time, and she could have easily ended up right there with Cheryl. And while conditions in places like that have improved, they still were hellscapes. And she trusted Kevin with that sort of information, given his father, so she took that as the truth.

“The property likely belongs to her now, despite not having the money to fix it up.” He finished. 

Before she could respond, their party burst through the tree line right into the graveyard on Thornhill’s property.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorry. But that’s where it wanted to end apparently...

The tombstones jutted out from the white ground, brilliant and looming in the bright moonlight that was uninhibited by any trees. It was so bright that they didn’t need their flashlights anymore.

Veronica dropped Betty’s hand to go wander through the tombstones a little, checking out names and dates. Betty’s own superstitions made her wary of walking over the bodies, knowing full well that the majority of those buried in the cemetery were nothing more than skeletons, if that even. Betty stayed at the edge of the cemetery, watching all her friends slowly drift to the freshest graves.

Archie led the pack, navigating straight to Jason’s headstone. It was flanked on either side by his parents’ stones, though both were unmarked. The Blossom family wasn’t exactly proud of how things transpired with Penelope and Clifford. The compromise was allowing them to be buried at Thornhill but in unmarked graves. Betty found that more than fair considering the paternal filicide. Let them fade into the obscurity of history.

Veronica followed Archie, placing a hand on his shoulder as he gazed down at Jason's stone. Betty felt a stab of jealousy in her stomach, but she was having a hard time decoding what exactly it was that she was feeling jealous about. Kevin was near them too, but Jughead hung back near Betty with his phone up, taking some pictures of the scenery. He bumped her shoulder with his own to get her attention.

“This okay?” he asked, knowing it had been his idea to come out here.

“Yeah, it’s a little morbid, but it’s really pretty,” she admitted, nodding to his phone. “Getting any good shots?” 

“A few, yeah. I’m probably going to use them as reference photos for a painting.”

“You’re painting now, too?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, “I like it. It’s kind of therapeutic. My foster dad does it too, and he kind of showed me how.”

“That’s awesome. A man of many talents!” Betty smiled, feeling a warm fondness. She was genuinely happy for him. “You’ll have to show me later.”

“Sure thing.” he smiled widely, obviously excited at the prospect. Then, he walked over to the rest of the group.

Betty still didn’t move, not wanting to tread over the graveyard. Instead, she swept her eyes around the whole area, surveying the grounds and the rubble of the house in the distance. When she looked behind her, into the dark woods, she swore she saw a tall pale figure between the tree trunks with glowing eyes.

“What the fuck!” She exclaimed, moving backward from the thing, toward her friends but not taking her eyes off of it.

Somewhere, in the back of her head, she heard Hotdog start to frantically bark, but she wasn't sure what he was barking at.  In her haste to get away from the thing she saw, she backed into a tombstone and fell over it, landing on her ass in the snow.

“Betty!” she heard her friends call and the crunching of their footsteps as they ran toward her.

Before she could even open her eyes or her mouth to explain, a rough pair of hands were gripping her under the arms and lifting her up off the snow. She turned to see the red hair of Archie pulling her up, letting her lean against him for a little while as she got her footing. Despite the wetness seeping into her clothes and his, she enjoyed the contact. She was reminded of the time he punched through thick ice over the river to save Cheryl; he clearly didn’t care too much about the cold when it came to saving or helping others. No one was going to say anything if she stood there against him a little longer than necessary. Hotdog had taken off in the direction of the thing and Jughead was trying to get him to come back, whistling insistently.

“What happened?” Veronica asked, coming forward to take Betty’s hand in hers.

Betty was glad for that contact too.

“I saw something,” Betty admitted, looking over to the spot where she had seen it, where Hotdog and Jughead were, hoping it wasn’t still there.

The rest of the group looked over. Thankfully, there was nothing there. Betty was relieved.

“A person?” Kevin asked.

Betty shook her head, biting her lip and trying not to dig her nails into her palms. “A _thing_.” She reiterated. 

“What, like a Slenderman?” Kevin scoffed but stopped short when Betty nodded.

Jughead had gotten hold of Hotdog's collar and was pulling the dog back over to the group.

“We need to get you back to camp,” Archie changed the subject, clearly unconcerned with the things that go bump in the night, real or imagined, “and out of these wet clothes. I don’t want you to get sick.”

She had to agree but she was a little reluctant to go back into the woods now. However, the cold was seeping in through her clothes, making her shiver, and their campsite was in the opposite direction of where she had seen it. Hopefully, it wasn't tracking them.

“I…” she thought about protesting but Veronica interrupted her.

“Good idea.” She agreed with Archie and started to steer Betty in that direction without waiting for Betty or any of the others to say anything else.


	5. Chapter 5

The boys stayed out of the tent, trying to light the fire, while Betty went into the tent to change into the clothes she had meant for the next day. Veronica followed her in and started laying out her sleeping bag so she could have something to sit on while they talked.

“Maybe I should layer up with my pajamas underneath since my coat is wet?”

“That sounds like a smart idea,” Veronica said, sounding a little distracted from behind Betty, who was feeling a bit shy about possibly exposing her breasts in front of Veronica.

Her nipples hurt from the cold weather, but she was concerned about Veronica being upset. “You okay, V?” she asked, over her shoulder so she wouldn't have to turn.

Veronica was biting her lip. “Huh?” she said, snapping out of what seemed like a daze. “Oh, yeah. I’m good.”

“Okay…” Betty turned back around pulling the clothes out of her bag.

“Are you going to change your bra?” Veronica asked, her tone odd.

“I don’t think I need to. It’s not wet.”

“Aw man.” Veronica sounded disappointed.

Betty spun around, scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion. She was about to ask Veronica what her deal was but she could see very clearly that Veronica was staring directly at where her breasts were hanging delicately in her pink bra.

“Oh…”

Betty's voice seemed to snap her out of her trance and her eyes snapped up to Betty’s. “I’m...I’m so sorry,” she said, like a deer in the headlights. Her face was red and she had to turn away, unable to keep eye contact any longer.

Before Betty could say anything in response, they heard footsteps crunching in the snow coming toward them.  Then, they heard Archie’s voice.

“Hey guys!" he called, "Can I come in?”

Betty panicked briefly. “Uh, give us a second.” She called back before scrambling to pull her pajama top on.

“I have hot cocoa,” he said, like that would entice them to open up quicker.

“You can come in now,” Betty assured him when she was fully dressed.

"Can you open the tent? My hands are full," he explained.

Betty moved to unzip the tent’s entrance to let him in. He was precariously balancing three steaming styrofoam cups and he awkwardly teetered into the tent.

“You doing okay, B?” He asked, trying to set the cups down on the floor so he could zip the tent back up to keep the cold out.

He folded himself up with his legs crossed on the floor between Veronica’s sleeping bag and where Betty was finishing up changing.

“Just grateful I had a change of clothes.” She said before turning her back to them.

Then it got quiet for a few heavy seconds.

“You guys okay in here?” Archie asked, his eyes searching the two girls.

“We should go get by the fire if it’s ready. Betty needs to warm up.” Veronica said abruptly before standing up and leaving the tent, not bothering to zip it back up again. She didn’t even take a hot cocoa.

“Oh...okay…” Archie said, watching after her. “What's going on with her?” Archie asked Betty quietly.

Betty just shrugged, so Archie followed Veronica out with two of the hot cocoas, leaving the third for Betty. She grabbed it but struggled a little to zip the tent back up with one free hand.

Veronica had gone to sit next to Kevin and seemed like she was exuberantly engaging him in a conversation about himself, something he was glad to participate in. Across from him, Jughead was roasting some sausages, focused more on that than anything else. Archie went and gave Veronica her hot cocoa, and she thanked him dismissively. He took the hint and went to sit on the log near Jug. Betty took the seat next to him.

“You want a brat?” Jughead asked Betty when he saw her approaching. It was his way of checking in on her without being too emotionally vulnerable himself.

“Yeah, that’d be great.” She assured him.

“There’s some beer in the cooler, too, but I know it’s cold out and you just..." he trailed off.

“Should we even be drinking out here?” Betty asked, concerned.

She’d seen Veronica drunk a few times because she didn’t care too much about underage drinking but the rest of them she’d only seen at that one party at Archie’s house back in sophomore year. That hadn’t been pretty, so she dreaded a repeat. Maybe they'd learned to hold their alcohol a little better.

“Come on, we’re all adults now.” Jug laughed, inevitably thinking of the same event Betty was.

“Questionable.” Veronica contested, giving Jug a wry smile.

“Well, it’s there if you want it, anyway.” he shrugged, going back to the brats.

Betty had to decline. She wasn’t even really hungry, but something warm sounded good. The cocoa had already started to cool down in the chilly winter night air. She wrapped her hands around it and moved in closer to Archie for warmth. He wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her arm to try to help warm her up. In that instant, she remembered all the years she spent longing for this _exact_ thing. It wasn’t that Archie never touched her—he was a rather tactile person in general—but somehow this seemed special, and she couldn’t put her finger on why. Either way, she couldn’t look at Veronica, even though she really wanted to; she wanted to know what Veronica was thinking, but she couldn’t ask across the fire with everyone else there since it was too personal. There would need to be a confrontation later on. For the moment, though, Jughead was passing out brats and suggesting they tell scary stories.

Kevin didn’t seem enthused but Veronica took it as a challenge.

“I bet there isn’t a _single_ story you know that could actually scare me.” She smirked at him, and Betty felt a little roll in her stomach. _What was that?_

In the tent that night, sometime after two AM with all five of them and Hotdog sharing a little space heater, Betty and Veronica took opposite sides of the tent instead of settling in right next to each other like they usually would. The rest of the group noticed but said nothing. Jughead warned everyone that he snored and the rest of them poked fun at him a little bit before they finally settled in for the night.

 

…

 

Jughead was up before everyone else the next morning, roasting some coffee over the embers from the fire. None of them got much sleep, rising sometime around seven AM, so the light was just starting to filter through the trees, but they were all grateful for the coffee. After the blurriness of sleep faded from their eyes a little with the aid of the caffeine, Jughead suggested they go back up to Thornhill. In the light of day, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea.


	6. Chapter 6

They navigated back to Thornhill in the bright light of day with Hotdog leading the way, and even the graveyard didn’t seem so frightening. Still, Betty couldn’t help checking over her shoulder for the thing she had seen the previous night. There was no guarantee it wouldn’t show up in broad daylight. Still, she saw nothing. It wasn’t a relief, knowing it was still out there.

“There’s one more thing I think you guys might find interesting. You can’t really see it properly in the dark anyway.” Jughead said, leading them around the side of the house, toward the pool.

As they approached, they could see that the pool was drained and vandalized. In fact, it was covered in a kaleidoscope of tags and surreal art, giving it the distinct air of a skateboarder hangout. This was made more evident as they got closer and saw all of the scuff marks and scratches on the mostly smooth paint.

Walking with absolute confidence, Jughead navigated to an area near the pool’s deep end. He maneuvered over to a crude depiction that still showed a good amount of skill with line and shadow of a tall and thin creature with large pointy toes, no eyes, and a huge mouth full of crooked, jagged teeth.

“I painted this.” He proclaimed, pointing with his shoe.

“Dude, it’s really awesome!” Betty said.

“That’s great, Jug!” Archie said, peering down.

“You’re really good!” Veronica smiled, still keeping a good distance between her and Betty.

There was a distinct silence from Kevin, though Betty wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed. She wondered if he didn’t like it or if he just found it disturbing somehow. She had to admit, the longer she stared at the absence of eyes, the more she kept superimposing the big, glowing ones she had seen the previous night in her mind. It was unsettling but she was sure that wasn’t what was keeping Kevin’s mouth shut. She let it slide for the moment being, but made a mental note to talk to him later on.

 

…

 

“Last night was so much fun, I’m almost tempted to do it again,” Archie said as they were packing up their campsite.

“I think I’d rather have indoor heating.” Veronica snarked, fighting indelicately with a particularly pugnacious pole that wouldn’t fold properly.

Betty watched that happen and wanted to laugh but kept it in. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen when they returned to Betty’s house and they were going to be sharing a room, just the two of them. Nothing good, she suspected. Maybe Veronica would make her excuses and find another place to stay. A part of Betty thought that wasn’t the worst idea, given the circumstances.

When they finally had everything packed up, they all started walking back to where they had parked the car. Betty started hanging back just a little and, just like she’d hoped, Kevin started hanging back a little too, clearly wanting to talk with her.

He looked at her like he was about to say something but didn’t.

“Are you—” she was asking when he interrupted.

“I believe you,” he said quietly.

“Believe me?”

“About what you saw last night.”

“Oh.” It hadn’t occurred to her that people might not believe her. She just assumed her friends would. “Thank you,” she said, instead.

“I saw something, too.”

“What? You did? What did you see? Where?” she said, her eyebrows scrunching together.

“That thing Jughead showed us at the pool...I saw  _ that _ . It was in the woods too.” It went unspoken that he had seen it while trying to hook up. Betty had already made her peace with that.

“ _What?_ ” Betty exclaimed, louder than she had intended, then immediately slapped her hands over her mouth. Only Hotdog turned to look at the noise but didn't stop walking. “Are you serious?” she whispered.

“Deadly.” Kevin nodded, expression grave.

“Is that even possible?”

“I didn't really think so, but then you saw something so I knew I really had.”

“Do you think Jughead’s seen them too then?” Betty looked to him, chatting to Archie and Veronica at the front of the group, far enough away not to hear Kevin and Betty. "And does that mean there's more than one thing out there?"

“He must have. That’s why he drew it. And I guess there is more than one.” He looked distinctly worried at the prospect.

“We’ve got to talk to him.”

Kevin nodded in agreement, his eyes shifting around the forest like he was expecting one of the creatures to jump out at any second.

 

…

 

They piled back into Jug’s van and he dropped them off at their respective places—Kevin first, then Archie, then the girls. Mostly they just listened to some live music recordings Archie had done and told him how good his music was sounding now. It really did sound good but clearly, the group didn’t have the energy to talk about anything else. Serious conversations could be waylaid for another day. They had all gotten used to the time apart and needed a little time to remember how they functioned as a unit.

When the van pulled up to the Cooper residence, Betty wasn’t really surprised when there was a bright red 80s sports car that had seen better days parked outside. The expected occupant was, in fact, Cheryl Bloom. She wished she could have gotten a better look at Cheryl, curious what she looked like now, but she only caught flashes of her from the side mirror Cheryl was using to watch them get out of the van. Veronica made her hasty excuses about spending some time with her good pal, Cheryl, and Betty didn’t fight it. For now. Instead, she just scratched Hotdog’s ears as the dog climbed into the passenger seat next to Jughead when she got out.

“I’ll call you later,” Betty told Jughead, trying to give him a meaningful look.

“You okay?” He asked, pointedly eyeing where Cheryl’s car had just gone screeching off from. The real question was _who let Cheryl drive?_

“Yeah, I’m good.” She smiled but didn't really mean it. She would talk to him more later.

He eyed her skeptically but knew her well enough to let it be for the time being. “Okay.” He said, instead. 

She waved at him and Hotdog as they drove off.

And then, she was alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to get one final chapter up before November. I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this month so unless I'm feeling particularly ambitious, this fic (and all other fics of mine) probably won't update until December. That being said, this was a fun chapter. Happy Halloween!!!

“Where’s Veronica?” Alice asked when Betty came in by herself.

“She’ll be back later!” Betty lied, bypassing her mom entirely to head straight to her bedroom.

There, she was glad that they had put away the trundle bed so she didn’t have any kind of reminder of Veronica at the moment, despite the fact that she was all Betty’s mind wanted to focus on. She flopped on her own bed and put on the TV to distract herself from her own thoughts. She made it through the first thirty minutes of  _ Love Actually _ before she had to switch it off. It was too sappy and not helping at all. Curse the holiday season.

She needed a better distraction. Since it was a weekend, she knew exactly where to find her dad.  The metallic sounds of car tinkering were audible as she descended into the garage. That, and her dad muttering curses under his breath. She knew exactly what he’d look like in there, sweating with a grease stain smeared across his forehead.

“Hey, Dad,” she called as she approached, trying not to sneak up on him.

His head popped up from under the hood like a prairie dog. “Hey, Bets.” He called. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I just want to help.” Betty lied, but she knew her dad knew _her_ well enough to know not to ask.

“All right,” he agreed, “well, grab the three-eighths crescent then.”

 

…

 

The next day, after a few miserable hours of sitting around the house watching kids cartoons, getting pulled on and snotted on by the twins—Ethan and Adrienne—to the calls of “Play with us, Aunt Betty!”, and developing a pounding headache, Betty had finally had enough.

She texted Kevin and asked to meet up for coffee. When he agreed, she went and changed into something not covered in snot and then asked to borrow Polly’s minivan. She felt like such a cliche, like all those movies about adults who have to go back home to their shitty hometowns and see all the people she went to high school with and didn’t talk to anymore, having to pick up prescriptions for her mom and driving dumpy vehicles. But, for her, Riverdale wasn’t a shitty town and she loved her high school friends. Maybe even a little too much.

The coffee shop they met at was new in town. Neither of them had been to it before but it had turned out to be pretty popular—not as popular as Pop’s, of course, but keeping up with the times just a little bit. It had a pretty rustic, vintage decór, accented with bubblegum pink. As they sat down with their coffees, Betty popped a few ibuprofens and washed them down with water.

“The twins.” She said by way of explanation.

“Ah,” Kevin said, giving her a sympathetic look. “I do not envy you.”

“Why does _anyone_ have children?”

Kevin was awkwardly silent at that. Betty peered at him, confused for a second before it dawned on her why that might be offensive to him.

“That sounded really insensitive…” she said out loud.

His lips thinned and he nodded.

“I...don’t know that I want to touch that. Just know I’m sorry.”

“Thanks, B.”

She smiled a little tightly.

“So, did you want to talk about Jughead?” Kevin mercifully gave her an out of the awkwardness, but Betty shook her head.

“No, actually. It’s...mostly about me?”

“Oh?” Kevin showed an acceptable amount of interest, but he was clearly not overjoyed to be hearing more of Betty’s drama.

She wondered if he was expecting her to talk about Archie again. Smirking, she leaned forward over the table.

“Remember in our sophomore year? When I was really mad about you hooking up with random guys in the woods?” she asked.

Kevin leaned back and sighed. He didn’t have to say anything; she could practically hear the “not this again.”

“I know I’ve apologized for it a million times, but I’m going to apologize a million and one times. I truly am sorry, Kevin. And I think I really...was afraid of what it might mean for me.”

“What?” he scrunched his eyebrows at that.

“Ha,” she said, humorlessly, “I’m saying...I think you maybe represented something about myself that I wasn’t really ready to confront at that time. And that I was afraid that maybe that could be me too, out there with the slim pickin’s.”

“Elizabeth Cooper, are you saying...what I think you’re saying?”

Betty bit her lower lip and nodded. “It took until college for me to realize it. I thought Veronica was a fluke...that that girl in—” she was interrupted by Kevin.

“ _ Veronica? _ ” Kevin practically exploded, his voice so much louder than Betty would have liked.

Betty nodded again, though, feeling like a gossip and enjoying the attention. “I’ve...had a crush on her pretty much since junior year. I thought it was just her. That she was some kind of exception.”

“Oh wow.” Kevin’s eyes were big. “So, are you…” he lowered his voice, just a little, “gay?”

“Bi, I’m pretty sure. I still... _like_ boys.” she tried not to sound wistful, thinking of her redheaded Boy-Next-Door.

“Well, welcome to the club,” Kevin smirked. “What prompted this little coming out session?”

“Uh…” Betty trailed off.

“That sounds like a  _ story _ . Spill.”

“Well,” she took the opportunity to take a sip of her peppermint mocha, “it was when we were camping…”

“When it was just you and Veronica in the tent alone?” Kevin supplied.

Betty nodded.

“Okay. Continue.” he gestured with his hand.

“All right. So, I didn’t really think anything of it, I was just cold and wet and needed to change my clothes but...Veronica made a weird comment.” Betty started to feel her face go red with embarrassment and she wasn’t even sure she could finish the story. But Kevin was one of her best friends and he was looking so excited and engaged. It was intoxicating.

“What did she say?”

“I don’t remember exactly but it had something to do with...taking my bra off? I was pretty confused and when I turned around she was staring right at me.” She gestured to her chest like she was lifting up her own breasts.

“Oh _wow_.”

“Wow what?”

“It sounds like...Veronica’s got the hots for you, too, Bets.”

Betty looked down, into her coffee, her face on fire. That’s what she had been thinking, but Veronica had acted so weird afterward; she just wasn’t sure.

“So, is that why she bailed on you right when we got back?”

“I think so? It’s best to just give her some space, though, I think. So I’m gonna wait.”

“I guess that’s for the best, but wow. I want to know what happens next.”

“Ha. You and me both.” Betty smirked and drank some more coffee.

“Thanks for telling me, Betty.”

“Of course, Kev. You’re one of my best friends.” She smiled and felt the warmth of their friendship. She was truly happy to be back home for the holidays.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho ho ho and Merry Christmas! Here are the girls, talking shit out and kissing. Looking to wrap this up soon. Maybe 12 chapters for 12 days of Christmas? Idk.

Betty was reluctant to go back home, afraid of the twin menaces that were her niece and nephew, but she figured it would be good for her to spend some time with her family. She knew she would see plenty of them over the holiday break, but that night her mother was planning on making a big dinner for everyone since it was a weekend. So, she was fully prepared to leave Veronica alone for the time being. However, she was incredibly surprised to receive a text from Veronica just before dinner asking her to come pick her up. She texted her the address and Betty was immediately pulling on her coat and grabbing the keys for Polly’s minivan. Her mother gave her an exasperated raised eyebrow, accusatory, but let her go anyway.

The address led to a house a bit on the outskirts of Riverdale, north towards Greendale, which was a slightly bigger city. The residence was small, flat and wide, art fairly far back from the road, obscured by some trees. There was a brown beater in the driveway and Cheryl’s banged up not-quite-vintage sports car was taking up the main spot in front of the garage. Who did the other car belong to?

Thankfully, Veronica was waiting out front with her bag so Betty wouldn’t have to go inside.

“She has pictures all over the house of Josie.” Veronica said as she slid into the passenger’s seat. “Honestly, marrying Dilton let her go off the deep end.”

Immediately, Betty started pulling out of the driveway, not giving Veronica a chance to second-guess herself. Instead of turning right to go towards Riverdale, she turned left towards Greendale. She had a plan.

“She married  _ Dilton? _ ” Betty gaped then laughed incredulously. “No. Way.”

“Way.  He’s an incredibly inattentive husband and I think she was just looking for someone who had a little bit of money who could take care of her since she couldn’t marry Josie. I don’t think she realized the extent of Dilton’s doomsday prepper bullshit. Or she just doesn’t care.”

“Holy crap, dude.” Betty was still laughing, completely in shock but also not wanting to ruin the fragile peace that was existing between them right then. “Is that why you wanted to leave?” 

Veronica was silent for a few seconds and Betty was afraid that she had shattered the burgeoning camaraderie. Finally, though, she spoke.

“B, I have to tell you something.”

Betty’s stomach dropped and she was legitimately scared of what would be said, doubting if her plan was even a good idea then.

“Go ahead.” Betty swallowed her fear.

“We kissed. Well, she kissed me. But I didn’t stop her.”

“Oh,” Betty said, relief washing over her. “Is that all?”

Betty was driving so she couldn’t get a good look, especially along the dimly lit country roads, but she was pretty sure that Veronica made a distasteful face at Betty’s question.

“Uh, yeah. I guess that’s it.” she seemed to clam up, angry, and faced out the window, watching the trees go by along the road in the van’s headlights. “Wait. Are we going back to Riverdale?”

“Oh, so your sense of direction has improved,” Betty smirked.

“Um, my sense of direction has always been impeccable,” Veronica smirked back and it felt comfortable.

“You’re right, though. We’re actually going toward Greendale.”

“Why?”

“So we could talk over I figured a nice dinner. There’s an Italian place there that I went to a few times before we went to college that’s  _ really _ good.”

“I do love Italian,” Veronica confirmed, seeming to be fine with the plans.

“I know you do.” Betty smiled, happy that Veronica didn’t appear to be upset anymore.

 

…

 

The Italian place was darkly lit, mainly relying on candles. It felt incredibly small like the darkness was enclosing them.

“This is romantic,” Veronica said while her eyes flicked over the menu.

As soon as the words were out, she clearly seemed to regret them. She clapped her hands over her mouth and her eyes went wide, the menu falling onto the table totally forgotten. Betty quickly reached for her water glass and took several large gulps, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks.

“Actually, I think that’s why I wanted to come here,” Betty admitted.

“Oh?” Veronica raised an eyebrow, looking almost competitive, not looking away at all.

“I, uh,” she was almost losing her nerve but then took a deep breath and jumped headlong into it, “did you ever wonder why none of the dates I went on in college worked out?”

“I figured it was probably because you’re still hung up on Archie.” Veronica started to close up again, her voice sounding a little angry.

“That may be true, but he’s not the only person I’m hung up on.”

“What? Jug too? Are you telling me you’re in love with two people? And now you want me to help you choose?”

“I might be?” Betty admitted though it hadn’t been her intention to do so. “But that’s not what I was trying to say. It’s…”

The waiter, unfortunately, appeared then, to bring them the bottle of wine they had ordered. They waited patiently with tight but polite smiles as he poured them both minuscule amounts of wine into each glass. Betty waited until he was completely gone before speaking again.

“It’s you!” She stage whispered, leaning forward over the table. “I’ve been hung up on _you_. And then you...tried setting me up on dates but then we come back here and you’re talking about me taking off my bra and then giving me the cold shoulder and running off with Cheryl. It’s just...really confusing. But I’ve had a crush on you since junior year.”

Veronica’s eyes were wide. “Junior year? Of high school?”

Betty nodded.

“Wow.” Veronica scoffed.

“Wow what?”

“Honestly?” She took a big gulp of wine. “I fell in love the moment I saw you and Archie in Pop’s. I just...thought you were straight. Me setting you up on dates with girls in college was my subtle way of testing the waters. I thought maybe you rejected them because you didn’t like women.”

“No, I like women. I like  _ you _ .”

“So,” Veronica looked serious, leaning forward over the table, “if we both like each other, should we…?”

“Date?” Betty supplied.

“Yes.” Veronica nodded.

“I think we should try.”

Dinner was pleasant after that. The food was good and they split a dessert. Afterward, they took a walk along Sweetwater River to burn off some of the effects of the wine. When they reached the minivan afterward, Veronica leaned against it and Betty leaned forward to kiss her under the yellowish light of the street lamp. It was so pleasant. Betty never thought they'd be here.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made some minor changes--took out the Fred x Hermione business since I didn't think it added much to the story. I know this fic has been a bit all over the place so thank you for bearing with me!

If Betty and Veronica (innocently) shared a bed that night, no one needed to know. The next day they loafed around the house a bit, playing with Ethan and Adrienne. Veronica seemed to really take to them, enjoying their company more than Betty was. Polly was infinitely grateful that someone else was able to watch them for a while, giving her some time to sleep. There was nothing quite so energy-draining as six-year-olds.  In the afternoon, Polly woke up from a nap and took over watching the kids.

“You guys can go out if you want,” Polly said, brushing Adrienne’s hair on the couch. 

She knew her sister well because Betty was _dying_ to get out of the house. She had gotten so used to the fast-paced world of New York, being able to go anywhere at any time for anything.

“Thank you.” Betty mouthed to her sister. “I think I’m going to go see Jughead. Why don’t you go visit with Archie?” She said to Veronica.

“That’s not a bad idea.” Veronica smiled. “I’ll just walk over.”

Betty had been texting with Jughead all morning, and he’d given her the address to his foster parent’s house. She'd never been over there before.

“You’ll be okay by yourself?” Betty asked.

“It’s not like Archie’s a stranger, silly. I’m sure we can find something to do. Maybe we can all meet up later to grab a late lunch? Pop’s?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Betty hugged Veronica tightly before she went out the door. She didn’t miss the look her mother gave her over the reading glasses she was wearing to type since Alice Cooper couldn’t even take one day off from work. Betty wondered if there would be any comments since Alice was never known to hold back. The woman had initially had a big problem with Veronica—given her parentage—but when she realized the girl was going to be a part of Betty’s life for a long time, she let it go. At least a little bit. Thankfully.

 

…

 

The Smiths, Jughead’s foster family, were incredibly normal. They had an open, sunny house, even in the winter, with lots of windows and decorated with beautiful art. Ralph Smith, the patriarch, was responsible for most of it and he gave Betty a brief but _thorough_ tour of the house. After the introductions, the family let Betty and Jughead have some time alone. Jughead explained to her that he’d had a _talk_ with his foster parents about his sexuality and they had been very accepting and understanding, so they weren’t worried about Jughead having any kind of private company in their house.

She and Jug got through some pleasantries and she made herself comfortable on his bed before she got down to the brass tax.

“So, Jug, I wanted to talk to you…”

“Okay.” He nodded but he seemed nervous. She couldn’t blame him; that sort of thing tends to set anyone up for a panic attack.

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. It’s just...about the other day. The camping trip.”

“You and Veronica?”

She gave him a blank stare, incredibly bewildered by his guess. “What? How did you—”

“I may be asexual and aromantic, but you two aren’t exactly subtle.”

“Oh wow. Uh...well, that wasn’t what I came to talk about but while we’re on the subject. Yes, I'm bisexual. Yes, Veronica and I do like each other. We talked about it last night and we think we may try to date.”

“Oh wow! Congratulations.” Jughead smiled and it looked so genuine that it made Betty happy that he wasn't unhappy.

“Thank you. It’s all still so new. And...well, it’s not like there’s much privacy in my parent’s house right now.”

Jughead nodded. “The twins are a handful.”

“They really are!” She sighed out, relieved that he had noticed too.

“I’ve seen Polly with them around town and she just always looks frazzled.”

“Ha. She is. But I think she’s managing.”

What went unsaid, of course, was that it would be at least a little easier if Jason were around. But, it was too sad to dwell on at that moment.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Jug asked after a few seconds of silence.

“Oh. Well, it’s about  that _thing_ I saw. Have you seen it too?”

“I can’t say that I have.” He admitted.

“But what about your paintings?”

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “My paintings? What about them?”

“Kevin...told me. After we saw the thing you painted out at Thornhill. He said he saw the _exact_ same creature.”

“Are you sure? Is _he_ sure? He wasn’t just high or something?”

Betty fixed him with a withering look. “I trust Kevin completely. He has no reason to lie about that.”

“But his eyes could have been playing tricks on him.”

“Jug,” Betty tried not to be angry, “I saw something too. Are you telling me that my eyes were tricking me too?”

“Well…” he paused, choosing his next words carefully, “do you think you saw the same thing as Kevin?”

Betty shook her head emphatically. “I’m sure I didn't. I didn’t recognize your painting. The thing I saw definitely had eyes.”

“Wait.” Jughead stood up and walked over to his bookshelf where he picked up a sketchbook.

He brought it back over and opened it to a certain page after flipping through briefly to find what he was looking for. Then, he handed it to Betty.

“Jug, this is _exactly_ what I saw,” Betty confirmed, a shiver creeping up her spine.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there are 2 chapters left! I promise the BVA is coming! Short chapter gearing up for probably a pretty lengthy one in the next chapter (fightin' monsters!).

“V, meet me and Jughead at Pop’s in 20 minutes,” Betty said as soon as Veronica picked up the phone.

She’d let it ring almost to voicemail and Betty had gotten a little frantic.

“Babe, calm down. We’ll be there.” Veronica said and the word “babe” was enough to get Betty to slow down a little.

“Okay. See you in a bit.”

“What exactly do you think either of them can do about this?” Jughead asked, as usual too pessimistic.

“Well, four heads are better than two. It’s worth seeing if they have anything else to add. Plus, since when are you turning down food?”

“Literally never.” Jug smiled. “I’ll drive.”

 

…

 

Veronica and Archie beat Jughead and Betty to Pop’s, each sitting on opposite sides of the booth. Betty slid in next to Veronica and was happy to take her hand under the table, squeezing a little. Jughead slid in next to Archie. Things were a little weird when they saw Cheryl waiting on another table farther back in the diner, but, fortunately, she wasn’t their waitress.

“So, what’s this emergency lunch about?” Veronica started the conversation off, right out of the gate.

“Show ‘em, Jug.” Betty nodded to his sketchbook.

He flipped to a page that contained a sketch, a prototype, of the painting at Thornhill. “Kevin says he’s seen this, in the woods.” He flipped to the one Betty had seen. “Betty saw this one.” Then, he started showing them some of the other sketches of creatures throughout the book.

“Wait,” Archie called, “go back.”

Jughead slowly flipped back a few sketches until Archie indicated for him to stop.

“I actually saw that the other day.” His eyebrows were scrunched. “I just convinced myself it was a cat since it was so small. But looking at it now, that was definitely what I saw. Not to mention, I did get a little creeped out when Betty saw something during the camping trip. It made me doubt my own memory.” Archie wasn’t a joker so he wasn’t pulling any legs on this.

“So, have you seen all of these things?” Veronica asked, grabbing the sketchbook from Jughead and flipping through for herself.

“Not in real life. Not a single one of them. So, that begs the question: how this is happening? Am I having psychic visions?”

“Why would you be having visions?” Veronica scoffed, still examining the sketchbook.

“Why are there _monsters?_ ” Jughead exclaimed, louder than intended.

“Fair point.” Archie conceded.

“So, are we sure they’re _real?_ ” Veronica asked.

“They seem to be,” Jughead said, shrugging.

“So, what do we do about them, then?” Betty said nervously.

“This might sound crazy,” Archie started, eyes darting to the others around the table, “but maybe they’re coming _from_ Jughead?”

“What do you mean?” Jughead asked, pulling a face.

“Well, you haven’t seen them but you’re drawing them. The rest of us have seen them so they’re definitely…out there, real or not. So, maybe you’re generating them?”

“How is that possible?” Veronica asked.

Archie shrugged. “I mean, none of this makes sense. So, it’s as good a hypothesis as any, at this point.”

“Okay. Say that’s true,” Jughead said, “how do we get rid of them?”

“I guess we have to go looking for them to find out,” Betty said, and they all seemed to agree solemnly.

 

…

 

They packed Jughead’s van with knives, guns, and the odd assortment of garden tools that doubled as weaponry and went out toward the woods.

“Let’s split up,” Veronica suggested.

“Me and Shaggy will go to the basement?” Betty said sarcastically, giving Veronica a look.

“Haha. No, _Velma_. You go with Freddie, over there.” she gestured to Archie who was carrying a machete.

“Well, it’s a good thing we have cell phone service out here,” Archie said, checking his phone.

“Call us if you see anything,” Jughead said, looking at his own phone.

“We will.” Betty agreed and they all went their separate ways.

_Why did Veronica want Betty to go with Archie, anyway?_

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full image here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/132763692@N06/27586108239/in/dateposted-public/


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The monster fight!! A nice long chapter for ya!

“Veronica told me about the two of you dating,” Archie said as the two of them crept through the woods as quietly as possible.

_ Aha. So that’s why Veronica wanted Betty to go with Archie. So they could _ talk.

“Yeah,” was all she said, not really sure what he wanted her to say.

“Right, well…that wasn’t all she said.”

“Is that right?” Betty said, a little sarcastically as she scanned the darkness for any signs of movement, silently cursing the winter for its early sunsets.

There weren’t really any paths and she was glad Archie had a machete so he was able to clear some of the brush away. She was also somewhat comforted with her dad’s pistol in hand (Archie’s dad was, obviously, not a big fan of guns anymore). She had some experience shooting and had every confidence that she wouldn’t shoot anyone other than her intended target. However, she knew it was difficult to _chop_ in the same place twice, so she was a bit skeptical of Archie’s blade-wielding skills.

“Yeah, well,” Archie panted at the effort of cutting away branches and vines, “she said you were in love with two people.”

_ Oh fuck _ , Betty thought,  _ do we have to do this now, when we’re trying to fight monsters?  _ Apparently for Archie, yes was the answer. She sighed.

“Yeah?”

“She said...she might have that same problem.”

_ Oh. _

“And,” he continued, “I’ve had that problem for years.”

“What are you saying, Andrews?”

“I’m trying to say— _ look out! _ ”

He was interrupted when a huge white creature crashed through the bush right into their path. He tried to get in front of Betty but she was the one with the gun, so she shoved him out of the way and started shooting at it. It wasn’t the creature that she had seen earlier or the one that Kevin had seen but it sure did seem similar. It was rushing at them and she was shooting at it. She wasn’t sure if the bullets were actually hitting but it did seem to slow the creature down, at least.

“Call Veronica!” She yelled, pushing Archie back the way they had come.

She was running backward and shooting, but then the gun ran out of bullets.

“Fuck!” She swore and started running forward, trying her best to load the gun back up while also trying not to trip over the roots and rocks on the forest floor.

Archie was on the phone, yelling at Veronica to come toward the sound of bullets. The creature was tall, over ten feet she guessed, so it had long legs to run quickly but it was also hindered by the fact that there wasn’t a clear path for it to follow them. That allowed them to divert farther into the thickets, Archie slashing with the machete in one hand and holding his cellphone in the other.

“It’s chasing us!” He was yelling.

Betty hoped they were going in the right direction, back toward the van, toward civilization and toward light. She could hear the creature panting and crashing through the trees behind them, a good distance away but not quite far enough for comfort.

Finally, she started hearing Jughead and Veronica’s voices calling out to them so they knew they were going the right way. And she had gotten the bullets packed into the gun properly. She stopped for a brief second to fire off a few shots at the creature and then started running again.  They nearly smashed into Jug and Veronica, but they were thankful to see the other two. Jughead had a shotgun he’d kept from his father’s possessions that were divvied out when FP went to prison. Veronica had an honest-to-goodness pitchfork. In the clearing, all four of them turned and pointed their respective weapons at the thing.

“If that’s a new thing, that means there are at least three others that we know of. What if the others were alerted in all the commotion?” Archie said, through pants, his hands shaking on the grip of the machete.

“We’re gonna need some backup,” Betty admitted, equally as winded and shaken as Archie.

“So who do we call, then?” Veronica asked.

“I’m calling Kevin,” Jughead said, his phone already being held up to his ear by his shoulder while he maintained aim at the creature barreling toward them.

There were no protests from the rest of the group.

 

…

 

“Hey, Jughead,” Kevin said, pausing his Netflix, when he answered the phone, a little surprised to be receiving a call directly from Jughead.

“Hey, Kev,” Jughead sounded uncharacteristically frantic, “can you do me a favor?”

“Sounds like you could use one,” he laughed.

“Can you send your dad and anyone he can spare out to Thornhill. We’re out here.”

Kevin sat up in his bed then. He knew exactly what was going on, but he didn’t have time to be upset that he wasn’t invited to the monster fighting party.

“I’ll call him right now.”

“Wait! Kevin!” Jughead stopped him from hanging up immediately. “I need you to do one more thing for me.”

“Anything.” Kevin agreed.

“Go to my foster parents’ house, there’s a key under the mat, go into my room, and burn all of the drawings in there; there should be a fire going in the living room.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“I don’t have time to explain. I have a hunch. Thank you so much. I’ll text you the address to the house!” Then Jughead hung up.

Kevin was calling his dad already as he pulled on a coat and grabbed his car keys. This was already shaping up to be one hell of a Christmas break.

 

…

 

“For now,” Jughead said, “we run toward Thornhill.”

They had shot at the creature enough that it was flat on the ground. But they weren’t sure if it was dead or briefly incapacitated. Either way, they weren’t taking their chances and they hightailed it out of the clearing. They weren’t too far from where they camped, which meant they weren’t too far from the grounds of Thornhill.

“Why are we going to Thornhill?” Veronica shouted, running behind Jughead.

“I have an idea!” He admitted.

“We’re trusting you!” Archie yelled from all the way at the back.

It felt like they’d been running forever and the landscape all seemed to be the same. Betty couldn’t tell if they were going the right direction but she had to hope they were. Still, her legs were sore and her lungs were burning but she didn’t want to slow down for anything. She kept expecting another one of those creatures to bust out in front of their path and grab them, or worse. But she remembered they were all pretty big; the brush would prevent them from coming right at them.

Finally, they broke through the tree line and into the graveyard. Jughead kept running and they followed, but Betty noticed several tall, pale figures lurking in the shadows along the edges of the forest around them. There were only a few hundred meters to go before they reached the main house. But why were they going there? Would that keep them safe?

Veronica nearly collapsed when they got to the pool, breathing hard. Bless the girl, she was beautiful and thin but she was _not_ in shape. The rest of them were faring much better, though still breathing hard. Still, they watched in confusion as Jughead pulled out a lighter and went over to his own painting on the side of the pool.

“What are you…” Betty was asking when she saw him touch the flame to the paint on the concrete.

Somewhere, in the forest, a high and terrible screech echoed out. It sounded like the creature was injured. He pulled the flame away again for a second and then applied it back. The same effect occurred.

“What?” Archie asked,  confusion knitting his eyebrows together.

“I think I created them. I don't know how. I don’t know why. But I think they’re my responsibility. And I think the only way to truly destroy these creatures is to destroy my pictures of them.”

The group was silent.

“So,” Veronica panted out, “how do we get rid of this one?” she nodded to the spray paint art. “It’s not like we have a blowtorch.”

“No, but we have all this other stuff,” he gestured to the weapons.

“First of all,” Veronica gave him a wary look, “we’re _not_ shooting at the pavement. I’d like to remain unpierced by any bullets, thanks. And secondly, how long do you think it’ll take to scrape all the paint off?”

“Hopefully, we won’t have to scrape it all off,” he explained, “I asked Kevin to burn my sketches.”

“Do you think that’ll do it?” Betty asked.

“I hope so.” Jughead shrugged, pulling out a bowie knife he’d had clipped to his belt. “For now, we have to take a stab at it. And Betty, you keep watch?” he gestured to her pistol.

“I hope this works,” she muttered.

As the group picked and scraped at the paint, making awful sounds, the distant cry of the creature grew closer, though Betty couldn’t see it in the field or in the woods. It must be hiding. However, the other two were creeping closer, sprinting across the property. Betty was a pretty good shot but she wasn’t quite good enough to hit a moving target several hundred yards away with a pistol. Still, she fired off a few shots anyway, like a warning to the creatures. Yet, they kept drawing nearer. She ran out of bullets again and began to reload, but, in the distance, she heard gunshots going off.

She looked around and saw several men at the edge of the forest, clearly taking aim at the creatures closing in. _Sheriff Keller and his crew!_ They weren’t exactly saved but it felt like the cavalry had arrived. She didn’t put down her weapon, but she didn’t fire anymore either, letting the police do that job for now. Their bullets weren’t dissuading the creatures from heading toward the pool, but, again, it was slowing them down. Buying them some time.

Then, right before Betty’s eyes, the two creatures sprinting toward them burst into flames, writhing and screaming, rolling in the snow to try to put themselves out.  _ Kevin! _ In the distance, she could hear more screaming. It was almost like a pack of wolves, joining in a chorus of agony. How many of those things had there been?

The sheriff and his crew rushed in, coming within twenty feet of the creatures, just watching with their guns raised as they withered and finally were reduced to oily piles of ash on the white snow. All at once, the screams died on the wind and the night was eerily silent. The four of them by the pool breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing onto the concrete.


	12. Chapter 12

That was where the sheriff found them, slumped on the cold concrete. They were all sweating and steam was rising off of them in the chill air, panting and eyes downcast.

“Who wants to tell me what just happened here?” Sheriff Keller asked.

The group of them were silent, like they were guilty, knowing that it would be hard to believe even given what they _knew_ the sheriff and his crew had all seen. Then, Jughead, being Jughead, spoke up.

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you, sir.”

The sheriff crouched down in front of Jughead, his boots creaking under the weight. “Try me.” He said.

Jughead sighed and, with his usual bravado, squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. “I inadvertently created the monsters.”

The sheriff raised his eyebrows but otherwise said nothing, clearly waiting for Jughead to continue.

“I did some drawings and some paintings and then...I don’t know, people started seeing them. So, we came out here to...fight them.”

“Well,” the sheriff stood up, “for one thing, coming out here by yourselves without telling anyone or getting any back-up was pretty stupid.” He stuck his hand out to help Jughead stand up. “And another thing, I think there are some people in Greendale I need to put you in touch with.”

 

…

 

“I guess we should talk about what we were talking about earlier?” Betty said, scrunching her face up in the awkwardness in the passenger seat of Archie’s car.

Jughead was following the sheriff’s instructions to see some people called the Spellmans in Greendale, and that left the three of them alone. Veronica was sitting in the back seat but was leaning her head forward between the two bucket seats to join in the conversation.

“What were we talking about earlier?” she said, cheerful but a look of knowing on her face.

“I get the feeling you already know,” Betty smirked a little, but she was still feeling a nervous pit in her stomach. “I suppose it concerns all of us, though.”

Veronica nodded, looking more serious now.

“Are we...in an open relationship?” Betty asked Veronica directly, biting her lip. She wasn’t sure that was what she wanted.

“Well,” Veronica said, matter of fact, “being polyamorous _doesn’t_ mean open relationships, exactly.” She said, sounding like she had done this sort of thing before.

“That sounds an awful lot like personal experience, V,” Betty said, trying to swallow her nerves, to swallow whatever this whole weird feeling was.

“I had some friends who were 'poly' back in New York. It was kind of trendy for them and I’m not even really sure it was _for_ them. They just wanted to seem cool.”

“So, what makes us think we can do this, then?” Betty asked, noting that Archie was incredibly quiet.

She looked over at him to see his face unreadable.  _ What is he thinking? _ She wondered. His eyes shifted to hers and his mouth tightened but he said nothing.

“Maybe we can’t,” Veronica said grimly. “Maybe it’ll all come crashing down in ruinous flames. But maybe it won’t. Archie?” She looked to him expectantly.

“I don’t think there’s anything for me to say.” He said. “Honestly, I’m willing to try. I can’t explain it but I have an immense love for the both of you.”

Betty’s stomach rolled at the word “love.” She wasn’t dating Archie and she’d only just begun dating Veronica, but she knew she loved them both very much. They’d all been friends for a long time now and even when they first met Veronica, despite a few bumps in the road it had all just clicked. It was perfect. Somehow.

“What if we mess it up?” Betty heard her own mouth say.

She hadn't meant to say it. No one wanted to say it, but it was something they were all thinking.

“Is it worth losing our friendship over?”

“We’re adults. Can we be adults about whatever happens? We can take the time we need to process and heal but we can’t stop being friends because that just doesn't work.”

“You’re optimistic about this,” Betty said.

“It’s _worth_ it,” Veronica responded.

“Well, if you both think it’s worth it then I do too.” Betty agreed.

“So, are we for real doing this?” Archie asked, clearly excited but trying not to get his hopes up.

“Yeah, I think we’re for real doing this,” Betty answered, smiling a little.

Then, Veronica reached out and took one of each of their hands, leaving Betty to grab Archie’s free hand, forming a sort of circle—a pact, a promise. They were forging ahead, into the future, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, that's it, folks!


End file.
